Technology for Mankind

With the unveiling of Windows 8 Transitional Computing Inc. finds itself reminiscing about Microsoft’s previous OS releases and musing about how this next release will affect IT professionals and the businesses we support.

Microsoft began its journey into market dominance of the PC world in 1985 with its release of Windows 1.0; an interface management system that would eventually be followed by several iterations of the OS and become an integral part of how we do business today. Though Microsoft is clearly a market leader for its operating systems support of business applications, they have on occasion released operating systems that have been a source of frustration for IT professionals and the businesses we support.

This is no more prevalent than in Microsoft’s release of Windows Vista. Though the OS was touted to have many improvements over its predecessor Windows XP (mostly in the arena of security features) it was plagued with performance issues. Benchmarks tests showed that Vista executed applications more slowly than Windows XP with the same hardware configuration. Further issues such as software bloat, software compatibility, poor power management on laptops, and the price to upgrade from XP to Vista all combined to make Vista an impractical solution for business owners and IT professionals alike. This had the unfortunate result of leaving business owners two generations of OS behind.

When Microsoft released Windows 7 in July of 2009 nearly 3 years after the release of Vista most business owners still found themselves running on an XP platform. Windows 7 was met with mostly positive acclaim. It easily out performed its predecessor Vista in the areas of usability and functionality with most reviewers saying Windows 7 is what Vista should have been. Read the rest of this entry »

In emerging markets it might be hard to find the money to start up a business. Could cloud computing be a game changer in these markets?

The emerging markets are definitely interesting to cloud developers and providers. Cloud computing is popular because of the low running costs and low need of knowledge, but for the emerging markets, there are still obstacles to overcome.

Advantages.

One of the main advantages with cloud computing is the low cost of implementation. You don’t necessarily need a server, but can instead use of one of the many cloud providers out there. Most small and medium businesses will find that the cloud has a solution to suit their needs. Furthermore this also means that you won’t have to pay for an expensive license. As we’ve seen in both webOS’s and dedicated cloud OS’s most of the software bundled with an OS is included in the monthly subscription or even free. Furthermore if developers need more resources cloud servers are easy scalable, due to the fact that many of the providers offer pay-as-you-go solutions.

Another advantage is, that the cloud can be set up anywhere with an internet access. Since it is possible to store everything in the cloud, you can practically access your systems from a bamboo hut in the jungle. Furthermore if you provide your employees with a cheap netbook, you actually don’t need to provide an expensive office. This also means that if you require a person with certain competences, but such a person isn’t available in your region, you can still collaborate on projects over vast distances. As we saw in LotusLive communication and collaboration isn’t a problem since these functions often are integrated in cloud interfaces. Read the rest of this entry »